An update on waiting and aquaponics.

I'm still waiting and praying for my number from State Board. I'm hoping it will be soon, as in today would be great. In the meantime I'm learning how to cook tasty vegetarian food and it's a lot of fun. I made eggplant moussaka and it came out pretty tasty. Tonight I'm going to try to make a nice coconut curry.
I've got a ton of websites bookmarked for recipes and I think we even saved a bit of money when we went shopping. It's a win win so far!

Transplanted peppers

We had so many pepper growing in the aquaponics bin that we transplanted some of them outside. At first they were a bit floppy looking, but in a few days they got used to the dirt and are now growing happily. Soon we'll have to plant them in the ground, but for now they are happy.

Baby lentil plants!!!

I tried to sprout lentils and it didn't work. I followed the instructions, but after 4 days of rinsing twice a day and keeping them in a dark cool place all I had was a smelly jar of icky lentils. I had noticed that there was a small number of sprouts in there so we carefully got them out of the jar and sorted on a paper towel. We wound up with about 15 tiny shoots. We put some in the aquaponics and planted the rest in a pot. I haven't seen any in the aquaponics yet, but 2 of them are holding strong in the pot. I just moved them outside today and I hope they survive! I've found that I actually like lentils and can't wait to grow some!

Parsley and cilantro

We've added parsley and cilantro to the aquaponics bin. Rory love them and it's fun to try to grow things there. There's even some lettuce still growing too!

Tasty yet tiny.

The peppers are great but small. If we let them get red they get a bit of a bite. The seeds were from a bag of roasted pepper that I just tossed in to see if they would grow. Boy did they!

Lots of pepper plants!

The peppers in the bin are still cranking out like crazy. They are really tasty too! I really need to replant more of them now that the testers are doing great. When I get my fancy beans to plant I'm going to need room, but for now I don't have the heart to shock them that way. 

Everything is growing now so I'm happy. It's a real warm tingly to use food we grew in a recipe! And it tastes better too! 

Aquaponics and a cute fish

The lettuce is growing great, but I think we may need to lower the light. I'm not sure what baby lettuce should look like though.

Monday

It seems to be coming up a bit stringy, but the stalks seem strong so I'm not sure. On Friday we'll get more chain and see if it bushes out more then.

This morning

The tomato plants are really growing well and I gave one to a coworker because we needed the room. I'm not sure how long it will take for them to fruit, this is the first time I've gotten them larger than an inch or so. It's too cool! We're growing our own food! Now I want chickens! That's not going to happen though.

They are about 6" tall!

The ciclids ate this ones tail and were starting on his side so we got him his own tank. The conditioner made the water look like pee, but it's good for his slime coat. I wasn't sure he would make it, but after a few days he now flirts for food and seems healthy. He also plays peek-a-boo with me.

Hello

I wonder if his tail will grow back. That would be cool. I'm trying to figure out what to name him, Nibbles just seems wrong. ;)

Feed me please!

Spring means growing things

So far I'm loving the warmer weather. It's great to see everything in green. Soon enough it will all be back to summer brown.

My mint is going crazy.

I'm trying to have food plants again this year. I'm starting them from seeds and so far the tomatoes are actually growing. This weekend they will get there own pots. I also have two strawberry plants that are starting to have leaves. I'm keeping them in pots so the strays can't dig them up and so I can bring them in when it gets really hot.

Tomatoes ready to re-pot.

Inside we are going to try our hand at aquaponics with the fish tank. In about a week it will be ready for the lettuce seeds. It's a new experiment and I'm really excited to see how it turns out. We go through a ton of leafy greens here and it will be great to just pick as needed!

Lava rocks and water.

I love trying to grow things and hopefully this year more than my ancient mint plant will survive. It's going to be fun!